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Act 2, Scene 4
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in If We Were Villains, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Fate vs. Free Will
Identity and Disguise
Love and Sexuality
Theatre and Corruption
Summary
Analysis
The next morning, James and Oliver go for a run. James asks Oliver if Meredith found him last night and tells him that he noticed the way she’s been looking at him recently. Oliver tells James that nothing happened with Meredith, but he can’t bring himself to admit that one of the reasons why he refused her was because he didn’t believe that she actually wanted to have sex him over the others. They go to the refectory and see a poster for the play featuring a giant photo of Richard. Under his face, text reads “always I am Caesar.”
It turns out that James has been watching Oliver just as much as Oliver has been watching James. He seems invested in Oliver’s sex life—but perhaps not beyond what’s normal for a roommate relationship. The poster of Richard is yet another reminder of his threatening presence, like the bruises. The text under the photo reads to Oliver like yet another reminder of Richard’s power and superiority.
Themes
Oliver jokes that it makes him paranoid to see Richard’s face everywhere after kissing his girlfriend, but James seriously warns him away from Meredith. He tells Oliver that Meredith propositioned him in freshman year and then got together with Richard when he refused. Thinking of Wren, Oliver asks him if he should know anything else, but James doesn’t offer any other information. James speculates that Richard will wait until opening night to hurt him again, and he and Oliver exchange lines from Caesar, with Oliver promising: “And I will set this foot of mine as far / As who goes farthest.” James replies, “There’s a bargain made,” and smiles in a way that makes Oliver nervous.
James’s warning to Oliver to steer clear of Meredith echoes the sentiment of what Oliver blurted out to Meredith earlier, as well as the insults that Richard has been directing toward her lately: that like the femme fatales she plays, she’s promiscuous, and thus not “worth” much. With thoughts of Wren in the mix, both boys seem a little insecure about being replaced. But the vow that Oliver makes to James reinforces their loyalty and commitment to each other—except that it seems like Oliver didn’t know what he was vowing to do. Under the pressure of Richard’s violence, James is already acting a little more villainous than usual, as his smile hints.
Themes
